April 14, 2017

Uber Whistleblogger Susan Fowler Becomes Ana Marie Cox of Coders

Susan Fowler is best known for outing on her blog alleged sexual harassment at Uber. And, although she is a prominent blogger in the tech space, few connected the dots on her communications talent.

Now they will.

Recode reports that Fowler is the editor in chief of Stripe's publication Increment. The target audience is the coder. The format is long form. Fowler has been working at Stripe since she had left Uber.

It may turn out that Fowler will become the Ana Marie Cox of the tech world. Cox became a celebrity when she had covered Washington D.C. on a Gawker blog. That was when blogging was new. Known as The Wonkette, she dished the dirt about affairs, both policy and romantic, inside the beltway.

Cox remains a powerful media brandname in politics. Part of her story has its dark side, just like Fowler's. Her life started to crumble in the D.C. Metro area. She left her marriage and that pressure cooker. For a while we wondered where she was.

Then she surfaced in her home state of Texas, writing for The Guardian and other media. She has remarried and, on Twitter, has positioned and packaged herself as the unofficial sponsor of those in recovery. When Carrie Fisher died, Cox also outed herself as bipolar.

Through Icrement we might also get to learn a lot more about Fowler. Already she has presence. Of course, even non-coders will pore over her publication. We all need ongoing information and insight about tech.